The ams TCS3471 family of devices provides red, green, blue, and clear light sensing (RGBC) that detects light intensity under a variety of lighting conditions and through a variety of attenuation materials. An internal state machine provides the ability to put the device into a low-power mode between RGBC measurements providing very low average power consumption.

The TCS3471 is useful in lighting conditions containing minimal IR content such as LED RGB backlight control, reflected LED color samplers, or fluorescent light color temperature detectors. With the addition of an IR blocking filter, the device is an excellent ambient light sensor, color temperature monitor, and general purpose color sensor.

• Programmable interrupt function with user-defined upper and lower threshold settings
• In-package trim provides an easy and accurate means to achieve system-to-system repeatability
• 16-bit digital output with I²C at 400 kHz
• Programmable analog gain and integration time supporting 1,000,000 to 1 dynamic range
• Low-power wait state operation, 65 μA typical current, sleep mode - 2.5 μA typical current
• Wait timer is programmable from 2.4 ms to > 7 Seconds